Much attention has centered in this type of winch in providing additional jaws at one axial end of the winding drum of the winch and which have acted as gripping jaws which compress the line axially between them and hold it at a time before the line has become tensioned and properly wound onto the drum of the winch. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,730,483 of Newell and 3,968,953 of Guangorena.
These jaws have always been driven to rotate with the drum by positive linkages between themselves and the drive mechanism which drives the drum, or by being integral with the drum. The reason for this is obvious -- if the self tailing device is going to draw a line properly onto the drum then it must necessarily move with the drum. In contrast, in devices which are for tautening line and which are more properly called cleats (an example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,043 of Henley) line was taken between a serrated unidirectionally rotating plate and a serrated fixed plate. Unidirectional rotation of the one plate would draw line in one direction while the stationary nature of the other plate prevented the line running back when driving was stopped. This idea is clearly inapplicable to winches where continuous forward and progressive motion of the sheet is desired, and where eventual loads will require multiple turns of the line around the winch drum.